Life teachers
It is true what they say–that every human encounter enriches your life in any way. Whether pleasant or unpleasant you cannot deny that you are able to take away various self-realisations in each encounter. Sometimes it provides new learnings, giving you that “a-ha” moment; other times they serve to merely strengthen long-held convictions. Whatever they are [...]

Planting Rice
Dear Sanyata and Sanghaya,  Recently I have been working close with the earth. Ok, maybe I’m romanticising it a bit: I have been gardening recently. Now that we are having warmer days, there is clearly no avoiding having to go out and weed the garden and water the plants. While I can think of other ways where I’d much [...]

Ang turon, bow…
Apologies if I have to write in my first language. I feel my subject matter merits that I write in Filipino. Mahal kong Sanyata at Sanghaya, Eto at ipinagluto ko kayo ng turon, pinalamanan ko pa ng langka at ibinalot ng maigi sa lumpia wrapper. Para maengganyo kayong sampolan ito, binudburan ko pa ito ng chocolate flakes sa ibabaw. Ngunit iisa lang ang sabay ninyong reaksyon matapos itong tikman, “Ok, I am so not eating that!” Mabuti na lang at fan talaga si Daddy nyo ng turon, pero hindi ng tsokolate kaya bago ko sya bigyan nito pinagulong ko muna ang turon sa ibabaw ng napkin, este serviettes. “Uhmmm ang sarap,” ika nya

Conversations around the fruit platter, part2
Not too long ago I was of the thinking that keeping a good academic record should be the priority of any school-aged child. That the books take precedence over arts, sports and certainly liesure. Until the voice of a work colleague jarred my strongly held belief.  I am in the midst of finding a good secondary school for Sanyata. Until now my number one criteria has been to select one with good VCE results.  The counter argument presented by my work colleague is that we must be in tune with the strengths and interests of our child. To nurture their interests and take their lead. To strengthen their individuality. Admittedly while she has good school results S

Conversations around the fruit platter
Yesterday we hosted a swimming party for Sanyata’s 10th birthday at the local liesure centre. A swimming instructor took the kids away for some supervised water games, which provided us weary parents a chance to sit back and have a chat. Catching up with parents of your kids’ classmates is always worthwhile, not only does it give you a sense of how your kids are faring compared to their contemporaries, it also gives you a chance to exchange information on the best local extracurricular activities. Parents’ groups are at best an advisory council at worst a competition. I had the role of documenting proceedings with my camera; which allowed me to flit